Could Turkey and Syria be Headed Towards War?

[GHook93]

It appears it may be possible!

Syria
The times of good relations between Turkey and Syria, during which the once-hostile neighbors were brought together politically, economically and socially for a period of time and which saw unprecedented agreements, such as the elimination of visa requirements and shared border crossing projects, may have taken a hit due to the Syrian army's brutal crackdown on opposition protestors and the civilian killings which are reported to have happened close to Turkey's border.

Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) expert Professor Veysel Ayhan warned that Turkey will not be a bystander if and when the Syrian army, which is located close to the Syrian-Turkish border, starts killing civilians in front of the eyes of Turkey.

“Remember when NATO was accused by the international media and public of not being able to prevent 8,000 Muslim Bosnians from being murdered in front of the world's eyes? As a member of NATO and a country whose border is about to witness such a massacre by the Syrian army, Turkey will not allow such a thing to happen again, especially before its own eyes,” Ayhan told Today's Zaman. Top Turkish political and military officials have been paying visits to the border region lately to check on the status of Syrian refugees and get a perspective on the situation first hand. The high-level appearances sent a strong message to Syrian leadership that Turkey will not remain indifferent to what has been happening along the border areas with Syria, experts argued.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was in the area last Wednesday, visiting almost all tent cities, talking to Syrian refugees and responsible Turkish officials in person before leaving for Ankara to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s special envoy, Hassan Turkmani, the next day.

During the meeting with Tukmani, Davutoğlu warned Syria about the ongoing crackdown on dissidents, urging Syrian security forces to stop resorting to violence and bloodshed. “We want a strong, stable, prosperous Syria. To achieve this we believe it is necessary to implement a comprehensive reform process towards democratization guaranteed by [Assad],” Davutoğlu told reporters after three hours of talks with Turkmani on Thursday morning.

“In order to achieve this, the violence must stop immediately. Yesterday I clearly saw the fear in the eyes of the people, and I shared this,” he added, describing talks with Turkmani as friendly and Syria as Turkey’s “closest friend.”

On Friday, the Turkish commander of the land forces, Gen. Erdal Ceylanoğlu, flew to Hatay, a border province where all the tent cities for the Syrian refugees are set up, to investigate the Turkish army facilities and sites, gathering information about the army stations along the border from officials.

There are some reports that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan could be next on the list to visit the area, with some saying he might come as early as Monday if not in the immediately following days.

According to Ayhan, all of these top-level visits of Turkish officials to the region send a clear and serious message to Syria that Turkey will not close its eyes to the killings of civilians at its elbow. “Yet I have doubts about how much of those messages will be understood by the other side,” Ayhan said.

According to the reports from the region there are about 15,000 Syrians who have fled from the Syrian army’s latest attacks on the villages in a bid to catch the protesters. Those Syrians have set up camps on the Syrian side along the Turkish border and are waiting to cross the border in the event the Syrian army attacks intensify in the coming days.

Ayhan says that if the Syrian army steps in and harms those people along the border this will have grave consequences. He also warns that Turkey will not stay put in the event that the Syrian army moves into the area, especially with an intention to conduct mass killings of its own people with whom many in Turkey share historical, cultural, religious and familial ties.

Syrian troops near Turkish border as the number of refugees exceeds 10,000

 

[Ropey]

There are three battles coming up in the ME. Arabs attempting to control the Arabian peninsula. Iranians are at a forking of their actions as they attempt to do the same (Ayatollah) as well as an attempt to 'hasten the end' (Achmadinejad) by nuclear attack on Israel thus bringing about the events that will (supposedly) bring out their 'hidden 12th Imam" and usher in Islamic control worldwide (Umma) and finally Turkey who wishes another Ottoman Empire. (Iran is in a fight between the two atm)

These groups are all creating new alliances and attempting to ready the border changes they will execute in the next big one.

And Israel is still working hard to defend itself as per usual.

 

[Sallow]

I hope not. That's exactly what that region does not need.

 

[High_Gravity]

I see the conflict stopping short of an all out war, Turkey will not go to war with Syria over these refugees.

 

[martybegan]

What was Bismark's comment on what would cause the next great European war?

"Some damn foolish thing in the balkans"

In modern times we can probably change that to:

"Some damn foolish thing in the Middle East"